Roy Hodgson looked up at the giant, black-and-white image and scowled.

It was of an older man, smart, distinguished, quite a dramatic portrait in its way. His suit is sharp, his white shirt crisp, his classic striped tie perfectly fixed.

The lines on his face, his wedding ring, suggest experience and wisdom. His demeanour suggests business-like confidence, yet without noticeable aggression.

VIDEO: Scroll down for Hodgson: We'll have to wait and see what Manaus brings

Suits you: Roy Hodgson fits the role of England manager after a long and distinguished career

Calm: One of his most impressive feats has been to create a harmonious training camp environment

‘I hate that,’ said Hodgson, glaring at his photograph. He sat down beneath it, a casual, unassuming figure in a grey T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms.

This is Hodgson as he prefers to be seen. ‘The team that wins this World Cup,’ he said, ‘will not necessarily do so because of managerial excellence. It will be because they have very good footballers and work together. It’s players that count, at the end of the day.’

Hodgson isn’t quite as without ego as he would like the world to believe – no boss can be, by definition – but his discomfort over the heroic projection of his features is real.

‘It has been decided by the sponsors,’ he said. ‘They want to animate everywhere we go. If you were to ask the question, “would I like to see it removed?” the answer is “absolutely”.

But unfortunately...’ – and he pivoted in his chair to stare helplessly again – ‘... there it is.’

Hodgson plays the modern game of branding and commerce and embarks on the standard rounds of media inquest but, deep down, there is an old-fashioned football man screaming to get out and coach.

This is his second World Cup and his first was 20 years ago in the United States when as manager of Switzerland he negotiated a tricky group until an unsuccessful reckoning with Spain in the last 16.

Those were different days. For a start, Hodgson was almost unknown in his own land.

Still got it: Hodgson strikes a ball with his right peg in training

Feeling the heat: The England manager watches on as his players rehydrate during a session

A Football Association-schooled coach but without professional pedigree as a player, he had left England at a young age for a manager and had barely returned.

His success was abroad, in unfashionable Sweden and then Switzerland. When England failed to qualify for the 1994 tournament it created a bubble of domestic interest, further piqued when Hodgson was appointed coach of Inter Milan, but it has ebbed and flowed since.

Hodgson appeared destined to orbit English football, certainly its national team.

And then came the appointment of the current Club England management board – two accountants, one media man and Sir Trevor Brooking to do the football – and Hodgson’s understated values were suddenly in vogue.

They wanted an English manager, but with the CV of a foreign coach, and an aversion to controversy. The prophet was no longer without honour in his own country.

Clearly, there is vindication in Hodgson being here now. Equally, it would be an act of utmost vanity to make the most eagerly anticipated World Cup of the modern era all about him.

On Saturday he will name the most significant England XI since the match with Germany in Bloemfontein.

So Hodgson trod the sensible path. He acknowledged the journey on his way to this moment, without elevating its importance above the next game.

‘I certainly never thought I was a pioneer, but I can’t remember feeling resentful either,’ he said.

‘I suppose because in the countries where I was working, particularly Sweden and Switzerland and, then, to some extent Italy, I was getting more than enough attention, and even acclaim.

'So I never thought, “This should be done in England.” I think I just accepted the fact that I left very young, totally unknown and I was just pleased to be able to fulfil an ambition to become a recognised and appreciated coach.

'I’m really happy to be with England now. It’s part of my birthright as an Englishman although I never thought much about destiny.’

Throwback: Hodgson leads the Swiss team in training at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan in June 1994

Switzerland in 1994 were a very different proposition. Little was expected of them – although the cowbells carried by their fans made the most noise in the tournament – and it would not have been hard for Hodgson to keep his adopted nation happy.

Just one look at the giant media facility at England’s Urca training base shows that England expects, despite the managing of expectations. Once here, it is impossible for England to play the shrinking violets and Hodgson knows it.

This is a team built from players in one of the richest leagues in the world, household names some of them, and while there may be less chuckle-headed optimism than has infested previous campaigns, come Saturday a defeat by Italy will not be viewed as par for any course.

‘I think I feel calmer, more in control than I did in 1994,’ Hodgson said. ‘It’s always very difficult to analyse or describe yourself. You hope you’ve evolved in some way and that in all the experiences over that time you’re improving rather than deteriorating – not just as a coach but a human being.

'The professional danger is that you lose some of your enthusiasm, your energy and vitality in those 20 years. I would like to think I haven’t and that I’m a better manager now than then.

'I’ve had more help this time, certainly. I feel that our set-up, technically, physically, administration-wise, is much better than I had in 1994 – but I think every country would say that.’

Not that Hodgson has reason to be anything other than grateful to the Swiss. His success there led to him being appointed manager of Inter Milan, which gave him a second spell at the club as a caretaker in 1999.

It was there that he met the man England must nullify in Manaus on Saturday, Italy’s playmaker Andrea Pirlo.

The Italian wrote in his autobiography that Hodgson mispronounced his name as Pirla, which translates as dickhead, to general hilarity. In doing so, Pirlo said, ‘perhaps Hodgson understood my true nature more than the other managers’.

‘I’ve heard this story, but I think he may have used a bit of poetic licence there,’ Hodgson smiled. ‘I called him Andrea, for the most part. I never use surnames.

'I don’t ever remember referring to him as Pirlo – I’m a Christian name person. Maybe Andrea and Pirla sound similar. Certainly he was anything other than a ‘pirla’. He was great.

‘I felt a bit sorry for him, actually. He hadn’t played much because the squad was full of number tens, and that was how he was regarded at the time. There was Roberto Baggio, Youri Djorkaeff, Paulo Sousa, Ze Elias and a couple you won’t remember.

‘He was in a group all vying for the same position. He didn’t play that much but I thought he was very good in training, a wonderful talent, and Carlo Ancelotti showed a stroke of genius when he went to AC Milan.

'Inter let him go, so they obviously didn’t fully believe in him, and Carlo transformed him into a deep lying midfield player rather than a real number ten and that’s when he started to blossom.’

It is at times like this that Hodgson becomes that man in the picture, the times when he can talk about some of the greatest names in the European game from personal experience. It hasn’t all been West Bromwich Albion and Viking Stavanger.

‘Don’t read too much into that,’ he said, with one final glance at the immaculate and dignified figure on the wall.

Yet Hodgson does not look out of place in this company; just as he does not look out of place in that immaculate suit.

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Roy Hodgson suits the part of England manager, but it is his star players who have to deliver at the World Cup